Donald Trump’s picks to lead the US intelligence community and top law enforcement agency were assailed over their lack of experience and past judgment calls Thursday as the Republican president’s most contentious cabinet nominees faced showstopping Senate confirmation hearings.Tulsi Gabbard, tapped for director of national intelligence, sat before the Senate Intelligence Committee for the most consequential confirmation hearing to date, while Kash Patel was questioned on his ambitions to head the FBI. Gabbard, a former Hawaiian congresswoman who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, is considered Trump’s most vulnerable cabinet-level nominee, and her grilling marked the biggest test of his sway over Senate Republicans since he took office.She is regarded with suspicion over her past support for NSA leaker Edward Snowden, seen on both sides of Congress as having imperiled national security.She also faced questions over her lack of national security experience, her 2017 meeting with now-deposed Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad and her peddling of Russian propaganda, particularly false conspiracy theories about the Ukraine war.Just one Republican “no” vote would stop Gabbard’s nomination from making it to the Senate floor with a favorable report, and the party’s leadership has indicated that she wouldn’t get a vote without committee support.Tom Cotton, the panel’s Republican chairman, said he was “dismayed” by attacks on Gabbard’s patriotism and loyalty, pointing to her two-decade military career and five FBI background checks that he said showed her to be “clean as a whistle.” But Mark Warner, the top Democrat, argued that foreign allies may not be able to trust Washington with their secrets if Gabbard is put in charge of the constellation of 18 intelligence agencies.- ‘Weaponization’ -In his opening statement he said the US intelligence mission “is all predicated on trust — trust that our allies will protect each other’s secrets.””It appears to me you have repeatedly excused our adversaries’ worst actions and instead often blame them on the United States and those very allies,” he added.But Gabbard hit back, arguing that her critics were upset that “I refuse to be their puppet” and saying that Trump won a clear mandate to end the “weaponization and politicization” of the intelligence community.She acknowledged that Snowden had broken the law by leaking highly classified information in 2013 but repeatedly refused under questioning from both sides to call him a traitor.”I’ll begin by leading by example, checking my own personal views at the door and committing to delivering intelligence that is collected, analyzed and reported without bias, prejudice or political influence,” she told the panel.On a day of drama on Capitol Hill, there were fiery exchanges between Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee and FBI director-designate Kash Patel, although he appears to be on a surer footing than Gabbard. Democrats argued that he is an unrepentant conspiracy theorist and brought up a list of 60 supposed “deep state” actors — all critics of Trump — he included in a 2022 book, whom he said should be investigated or “otherwise reviled.”Senator Dick Durbin, the panel’s top Democrat, said Patel had “neither the experience, the temperament nor the judgment to lead” the FBI.Patel has denied that he has an “enemies list,” and told the committee he was merely interested in bringing lawbreakers to book.In one unexpected exchange he distanced himself from at least some of Trump’s pardons of hundreds of criminals convicted of violence over the 2021 US Capitol insurrection.”I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” he said.At the same time Robert F Kennedy Jr was appearing for a second hearing on Capitol Hill, a day after coming under attack from Democrats over his promotion of vaccine misinformation, and his sudden embrace of anti-abortion policies.Thursday’s questioning turned to past allegations of sexual assault from a babysitter who received an apology from Kennedy after claiming he groped her in 1999.Kennedy denied sexual misconduct, saying the accusation had been “debunked,” and added that he texted the alleged victim an apology for “something else.”Trump has chosen Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

US President Donald Trump — speaking as the bodies of 67 people were being pulled from Washington’s Potomac River — launched an extraordinary political attack Thursday, blaming diversity hires for the midair collision between an airliner and a military helicopter.The Republican confirmed the deaths of all those aboard both aircraft, and also cited pilot error on the helicopter in the nighttime crash.But he chiefly used a press conference to open fire at what he said were left-wing diversity practices under his predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama that he said kept out good employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.”I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first,” Trump said. “They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white.’ And we want the people that are competent.”As Trump spoke in the White House, police divers searched for more bodies in the water.Wreckage of the Bombardier jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary protruded from the surface, surrounded by emergency vessels and diving teams. It had been carrying 64 people.The army Blackhawk helicopter, which had three soldiers aboard, was also in the river.”We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said. Twenty eight bodies had already been found.The collision — the first major crash in the United States since 2009 when 49 people were killed near Buffalo, New York — occurred late evening on Wednesday as the airliner came into land at Reagan National Airport after a routine flight from Wichita, Kansas.Reagan National is a major airport located only a short distance from downtown Washington, the Pentagon and other major sites in the capital. The airspace is extremely busy, with civilian and military aircraft a constant presence.Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet “in sight,” and then just before the crash telling it to “pass behind” the plane.- Trump politicizes crash -Trump opened his press conference by speaking of the nation’s “anguish” and said that the investigation would take time.However, he then launched into an extended broadside against so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies.Trump — who began his presidency a week ago with an onslaught against decades-old measures aimed at preventing sexism and racism in the United States — singled out Biden’s openly gay transport secretary Pete Buttigieg.”He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity,” Trump said.The message was hammered home as Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, took turns at the podium to repeat that diversity measures kept capable Americans out of responsible jobs.Asked again by reporters whether he was blaming workplace diversity for the crash, Trump answered: “It could have been.”- Skaters among victims -Hundreds of rescuers were rapidly at the scene, but found themselves battling darkness and floating ice through the night. Some of the debris was found a mile downriver.Among those on the airliner were several US skaters and coaches, US Figure Skating said. Officials in Moscow also confirmed the presence of Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the 1994 world pairs title.The violence of the collision soon made it clear that survivors were unlikely.”I just saw a fireball and it was gone,” one air traffic controller was heard telling a colleague after communication with the helicopter was cut.- What happened? -Transport officials said both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility.Hegseth said the Black Hawk chopper had “a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation.””Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.Trump, in addition to blaming racial and other kinds of diversity policies, offered extended remarks on the flight paths.The helicopter was “going at an angle that was unbelievably bad,” Trump said.”The air traffic controller said, ‘Do you see… Do you see him?’ But there was very little time left when that was stated,” the president added, blaming a “confluence of bad decisions.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday that if US counterpart Donald Trump hiked tariffs on Brazilian products, he would reciprocate — but that he would prefer improved relations over a trade war.The Latin American giant is one of the countries that Trump has threatened with higher tariffs.”It’s very simple: if he taxes Brazilian products, Brazil will reciprocate in taxing products that are exported from the United States,” the 79-year-old Lula told a press conference.Lula, currently in his third term, said he would prefer to “improve our relationship with the United States” and boost trade ties with Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China.”I want to respect the United States and for Trump to respect Brazil. That’s all,” he said.Citing Trump’s comments that he plans to take back the Panama Canal or get control of Greenland, Lula said “he just has to respect the sovereignty of other countries.”Lula also underscored the global threats facing democracy.”For me, democracy is the most important thing in humanity right now … Either we keep democracy working or we will have states more authoritarian than Hitler and fascism.”Lula, whose country will host the COP30 UN climate talks in the Amazonian city of Belem in November, added that Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord was “a step back for human civilization.”He said he did not want a summit where “measures are approved, everything looks very nice on paper and then no country complies,” slamming wealthy nations for failing to meet previous promises to give billions of dollars to help developing nations deal with the fallout of climate change.”We want something very real so that we can know if we are serious or not about the climate issue.”- Seizing back the narrative -The president held a wide-ranging press conference in the capital Brasilia, urging journalists not to hold back in their questions as his government seeks to reclaim the narrative after battling a wave of disinformation.After undergoing emergency surgery to stop a brain bleed in December linked to an earlier fall, Lula vowed he was fully recovered and had “the energy of a 30-year-old.”With less than two years left of his third presidential term, Lula’s approval rating has sunk to 47 percent, according to a Quaest poll published this week, with a notable drop in support from his key electoral base in the low-income northeast of the country.Lula said he was “not worried” about opinion surveys, and brushed off concerns about high interest rates and public debt.As expected, the central bank on Wednesday hiked the key interest rate by one point to 13.25 percent, despite a new bank president being appointed by Lula — who has in the past criticized interest rate hikes.”The president of the central bank cannot make a U-turn in a stormy sea,” Lula said, adding that he had faith in new bank chief Gabriel Galipolo who would have “autonomy to do whatever is necessary.”Lula also sought to ease concerns over government interventions to lower food prices and vowed his commitment to “fiscal responsibility.”His government is weighing reducing import tariffs on certain goods, and he highlighted the need to provide more financing to ramp up production, saying he was working on a plan with banks for “the largest credit program in the history of this country.”Concerns over Brazil’s ability to curb public spending in December sent its currency, the real, to record lows against the dollar.